Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1914 — Abandons Endurance Ran to Coast Because of Bad Roads. [ARTICLE]

Abandons Endurance Ran to Coast Because of Bad Roads.

Hugh Kirk returned Sunday from his “trip to the Pacific coast.’’ The roads were so bad that the trip was abandoned at Omaha, where he stored the car and returned home. Hugh had started to drive an American Underslung car from Chicago to San Francisco on an endurance run. Two other cars started from Chicago the same time, one taking the northern, one the central and one the southern route. Hugh’s car was stripped for the run and covered with banners, but so much rain was encountered that the roads were somthing fierce; the banners became covered over with mud and the owner of the car and another party who accompanied (hint, took a train at Des Moines, la., and told Hugh, to go on through and make the best time he could. Further on, on the clay roads, it was such hard pulling that he had to be pulled up a couple of hills, and as it was still raining and the roads were becoming worse instead of better, while tourists he met informed him that it kept getting worse the farther west he went, he thought the only thing to do was to give up the trip. Some of the thrifty farmers would be stationed at the foot of the hills with a span of mules and did a land office business pulling tourists to the top at $5 per Phil. Hugh has not heard from the drivers on the other routes and dont’ know what kind of roads they encountered and whether they have also given up the trip or not.